Professor Ki Padosan

No screencaps, 'cos the movie died promptly after being played this first time!

Title: Professor ki Padosan

Year: 1993

Cast: Sanjeev Kapoor, Padmini Kolhapure, Deven Verma, Asha Parekh, Dilip Tahil, Shekhar Suman.

This was Sanjeev Kumar's last movie- he died in 198, years before it was released, without completing the dubbing, which was later completed by a mimicry artist. For this morbid-curiosity factor alone, the movie is worth a watch.

The movie probably languished in its cans when he died before completing it, before it was revived and finished in the 90s. Often during the film you feel like you are watching 2 movies at the same time due to all the splicing action. The lack of continuity also shows in the quality of the film it was recorded on- the 80s portions have more brown in the colors, and the 90s portions have a yellowish quality. The bikes and fashions vary with Shekhar Suman's receding hairline, who was probably hired (Shekhar, not just his hairline) in order to grant the movie a hero the audience could identify.

The story itself is an 80s idea of a sex comedy, far lower in quality than I would have ever expected Sanjeev to star in. But he obviously had no control over the final product, which is a huge pity, since I am certain he would not have wanted this to be his swan song- it is absolutely not representative of his caliber as an actor or his impressive body of work.

Sanjeev is a timid professor living with his wife Asha and child in a condo in Bombay.

Padmini is his neighbor and a model- she is badly insulted by Asha one day due to a comic misunderstanding: it ends with Asha challenging Padmini that Sanjeev would never look at another woman than his own wife.

Padmini takes on the challenge seriously, and begins to pursue Sanjeev.

Sanjeev doesn't understand Padmini's motives, but is completely willing to follow her lead, including conning Asha into going for an extended visit to her mom with his best friend Deven.

Deven has his own little love story with Aruna : because of continuity issues, its easy to construe that Aruna and Deven's story was amplified to serve as a filler making up for Sanjeev's disappearance (literally) mid-movie. Aruna is the assistant of a scientist who has discovered a invisibility potion! (the director aped 1987's Mr India! heeh)

The scientist is also dad to a very young Dilip Tahil, who plays our standard issue villain, who loves Padmini, who dislikes Dilip but loves Shekhar, her photographer friend.

Since Sanjeev died mid movie, the director used the ridiculous ploy of the disappearing potion to account for his absence from that point onwards :S. When Asha discovers Sanjeev's philandering, he hides under a car (!) where Deven decides to feed him the disappearing potion- and voila! an invisible Sanjeev for the remainder of the movie!

So what will happen? Will Padmini and Shekhar end up together?

or will her little affair with Sanjeev be more than Asha bargained for?

Will they all just disappear and leave us in peace?

or will we be looking for a way to disappear from in front of our DVD players (like my movie disappeared)?????

Rest assured that all these and other questions you may/may not have will be answered, and a final Sanjeev phantom will appear in the end via some terrible animation (it was the early 90s in Bollywood- what do you want? :D) to be reunited with his family :)

Notes:

1- This was also one of the last movies Padmini and Asha starred in- Asha moved on to create TV shows, and Padmini started a acting school.

2- Its NOT a good movie- cheap jokes sully what may have been a fun ride. We cant blame Sanjeev at all, since they got a mimic to dub his lines in the entire movie.

3- Despite his pic on the DVD, Amitabh is only the narrator in the beginning and the end of the movie, so don't get you hopes up!